Lloyd Aereo Colombiano
Operator Identification
September 1954 to April 1960
Colombia
TYPE: Airline
IATA/ICAO CODES: Nil
HEADQUARTERS: Colombia
FORMER NAME: Nil
SUBSEQUENT NAME: Nil
Operator History
In September 1954, a small group of private investors headed by Carlos Perez Calvo, and with the economic backing of Banco Popular, Lloyd Aereo Colombiano was founded as the country's latest airline. Investors thought that the name gave an image of confidence, perhaps because of the great insurance firm Lloyd's of London. There was not any connection between Lloyd Aereo Colombiano and the British company, though, nor with Lloyd Aereo Boliviano. The director of the Banco Popular, Luis Morales Gomez, a personal friend of General Rojas, made sure that the operating permit was obtained without any difficulty.
The plan was to create an air bridge between Bogota and Medellin, with a flight "every hour on the hour". It was a very ambitious initiative, given Avianca was operating the route without any competition, and using comfortable DC4s. The operation started with three Cessna 310. The service became popular with businessmen, and soon Lloyd had to take DC3s to increase capacity. These were then replaced with a fleet of three Commandos, with the assistance of Leeward Aeronautical Inc. of Miami, FL.
Gonzalo Mejía, the dynamic new general manager, welcoming the government's policy of opening the National Territories, convinced his directors to start scheduled services the island of San Andres, where the State had invested significant sums of money in the construction of an airstrip. The air service to San Andres was inaugurated on 11 March 1956, for the first time in history, and soon the island would become the favorite place for Colombians to spend their vacations.
From 1956, with the support of the Colombian government, Lloyd opened a series of international destinations: Riberalta and Cochabamba, Bolivia, and Guayaquil, Ecuador. These routes were then extended south to reach La Paz, Bolivia, Asuncion, Paraguay, Montevideo, Uruguay and finally Buenos Aires, Argentina, where General Peron himself welcomed the first Colombian aircraft to set foot on Argentine soil. The return flights were scheduled via Salta, Santiago and Arica, Chile, Lima, Peru and Guayaquil, Ecuador. The round trip took 7 days! Towards the north, Lloyd started services from Barranquilla to Havana, Cuba and onwards to Miami, FL. The inaugural flight took place on 13 June 1956, with modern "Super-Star C-46" airplanes, the new marketing name given to the already known Curtiss, equipped with "new powerful DC6 engines and jet propulsion turbines".
These new ventures required Lloyd to expand its fleet. For its domestic freight services, it purchased a C-82 Packet with a 12-ton cargo capacity. With the support of Banco Popular, it bought a fleet of Viscounts, one of the most modern aircraft at the time. This latest acquisition proved too costly, and Lloyd did not manage to pay for the aircraft in time. On this occasion, the new directors of Banco Popular discovered that Lloyd did not keep its accounting books up to date, had no legal representation before the Chamber of Commerce and did not hold any Civil Aviation. In the light of these troubling facts, Banco Popular decided to discontinue all financial support to the company.
As a provisional government had been set up in Colombia, Lloyd lost most of its political support as well. Its previous directors were accused of smuggling and tax evasion. To prevent the Commandos from being seized by customs, they were transferred to a new company called Intereses Aéreos SA. As Lloyd lost its credibility and clientele, it canceled all international services. It finally declared bankruptcy in January 1958, and suspended all flight operations.
However, on 25 April 1958, Lloyd Aereo Colombiano SA LLACSA was established with a new corporate name, seeking to revive its predecessor. The 128 employees and the three Commandos managed to keep the new company afloat for a little longer. In August 1959, operations started again on the domestic network and Miami route. The airline managed to operate succesfully, and regain some of its former clientele. Unfortunately, this did not last long. On 17 April 1960 one of the Commandos, HK-870 "Santa Brigada", made an emergency landing at the recently opened Bogota Eldorado airport. The landing gear did not come down and the plane skid down the main runway, causing a closure of the main air terminal in the country for over 24 hours.
Two days later, on the night of 19 April, another Commando, HK-390 "Santa Ines" with 41 passengers and crew on board, crashed as it approached the airport. The aircraft had left Miami in the morning and had made stops in Barranquilla and Medellin. In the accident, which occurred just before reaching the runway threshold, 32 people died. Some blamed the aeronautical authority for the bad location of the new Eldorado airport. The company was also blamed for alleged deficiencies in its safety procedures and the maintenance of its flight equipment. It was found that the three aircraft were actually overdue for major maintenance.
These two accidents sealed the fate of Lloyd Aereo Colombiano, which permanently suspended operations on 22 April 1960.
Commando Operations
January 1955 to April 1960
Lloyd operated Commandos equipped with Palas jet engines. This ensured better performance and allowed them to operate from Techo airport in Bogota. These Commandos were equipped with 36 luxury seats. The first scheduled Commando flight occured on 3 January 1955 on the Bogota-Manizales route and the Commercial Manager of the airline, Joaquín Pineros inaugurated the new flights with great pomp. The Commando also operated scheduled passenger services from Bogota to Cali, Bucaramanga, Monteria, Cartagena and San Gil.
Last edited: 03/03/2024